Friday Morning Links

The world is plagued
by almost intractable problems. Inequality is surging, especially in the
advanced economies. The digital revolution, despite its potential, also
carries serious risks for privacy, security, jobs, and democracy –
challenges that are compounded by the rising monopoly power of a few
American and Chinese data giants, including Facebook and Google. Climate
change amounts to an existential threat to the entire global economy as
we know it.

Perhaps more
disheartening than such problems, however, are the responses. To be
sure, here at Davos, CEOs from around the world begin most of their
speeches by affirming the importance of values. Their activities, they
proclaim, are aimed not just at maximizing profits for shareholders, but
also at creating a better future for their workers, the communities in
which they work, and the world more generally. They may even pay lip
service to the risks posed by climate change and inequality.

But, by the end of
their speeches this year, any remaining illusion about the values
motivating Davos CEOs was shattered. The risk that these CEOs seemed
most concerned about is the populist backlash against the kind of
globalization that they have shaped – and from which they have benefited
immensely.
...

For the CEOs of
Davos, it seems that tax cuts for the rich and their corporations, along
with deregulation, is the answer to every country’s problems.
Trickle-down economics, they claim, will ensure that, ultimately, the
entire population benefits economically. And the CEOs’ good hearts are
apparently all that is needed to ensure that the environment is
protected, even without relevant regulations.

Yet the lessons of
history are clear. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work. And one of the
key reasons why our environment is in such a precarious condition is
that corporations have not, on their own, lived up to their social
responsibilities. Without effective regulations and a real price to pay
for polluting, there is no reason whatsoever to believe that they will
behave differently than they have.

- And Arwa Mahdawi comments on the "class-passing" needed for anybody to try to break through increasingly rigid class barriers.

- Polly Toynbee writes about the link between privatization, pollution and poor health in the UK. And Julia Conley discusses how Donald Trump's latest giveaway to polluters will put water quality at risk for Americans.

- Finally, Hayley Peterson reports on Whole Foods' use of stringent "scorecards" to control and punish employees, while Ellen Tannam reports on Amazon's plans to take constant monitoring to new extremes with bracelets to track warehouse employees' whereabouts at all times. And Sara Mojtehedzadeh points out how Ontario is continuing to allow employers to use temporary workers as a means of avoiding responsibility for health and safety.